THE DADDY QUEST by Lori Handeland May 1, 2005 In THE DADDY QUEST, Lori Handeland has created a set of characters that stand out. The main female protagonist is an ex-stripper and has an illegitimate daughter who happened to be fathered by a future priest. Nicole, the ex-stripper, has a best friend Janet, who was an ex-nun and now currently is the creator of a very popular comic strip (along the vein of the super hero). Janet also runs a home for women, and this is where Nicole lives, with her teenage daughter Rayne. The novel opens with Rayne, who has befriended yet another outcast, this time a young boy who is very hyperactive and calls himself Rat. Rayne has no real friends, mainly because she refuses to conform and be part of the mainstream. Because of this, school is painful for her. She spends as little time at school, and what time she has left she is helping out the homeless and the unloved and unwanted, taking in strays when she can. When Rayne accidentally finds out that her father is not deceased but is alive and well in the state of Illinois, she and Rat (now called Tim) run away and they travel by bus on their "Daddy Quest". In the meantime, Nicole is worried to death over her missing daughter, but eventually gets in contact with Aaron Luchetti, the father of Rayne, and she too gets a surprise: Aaron never became a priest and has been living all this time with his family on their farm in Illinois. The story then moves to Illinois, where Rayne arrives to find her new found family, confronts her mother and her father, and the reader is introduced to a slew of characters. From this novel, it is obvious that the author had intended it to be a start to a series of books, and this reader is looking forward to reading them all. Ms Handeland knows how to write well-rounded characters and for the most part, I feel that this is the key to writing a good romance. THE DADDY QUEST is a recommended romance for those who enjoy the genre.
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